viewing -Ice

I Saw Bylot Island, by Heidi Burkhardt

“I prefer painting on location, I like to feel the wind, smell the air, hear the rush of water, birds, echoes… I am not a studio painter. Only sometimes do I paint very large interpretations of a smaller work indoors to be practical.”- Heidi Burkhardt

AntarcticaXXXVIII, 2007, by John Paul Caponigro. Photography. Artist featured in Polar Attractions.

John Paul Caponigro on creativity and the environment

“Many people think you can’t learn to be more creative. ‘You’ve either got it or you don’t.’ This attitude does a great disservice to everyone. Everyone is creative. So why are some people more creative than others? There are all kinds of reasons. Two reasons stand out above all the others - attitude and skill. In both cases, practice makes perfect. The creative principles and strategies applied in a wide variety of fields can all help you become more creative. You can learn to be more creative. As Micheal Michalko says, ‘The artist, after all, is not a special kind of person; every person is a special kind of artist.’”

Grand Pinnacle Iceberg, East Greenland, September 2006, by Camille Seaman. Photograph. Artist featured in Polar Attractions.

Camille on frequently asked questions

What Advice Do You Have For Aspiring Photographers?
“I would say it’s not about the camera! If you are serious about photography make images often, practice seeing and look at as much photography as possible, both work you like and do not like. Begin an internal dialogue that helps develop your own unique way of seeing and making images. Know what you like and why you like it. Most importantly photograph something that you are passionate about, there is not much money or glory in what I do, all I have in the end is my love and respect for the subjects I choose. Do this because you love it. I have been working on this project since 1999 and only now in 2007 am I starting to get any exposure for the work. You must be patient and passionate. For me personally I must honor my subject, be faithful to the quality of light and work hard.”

“These pieces, like all my work, use the phenomena of ice as a metaphorical point of departure; it is to be emphasized that this is only a point of departure– a work of visual art too closely reasoned is bound to lack ambiguity, breath, and life. In these, the ice referred to is continental ice sheets such as found in Greenland and Antarctica. The sculptures can be seen as slices through the strata of rock and ice, which can be miles thick and up to 500,000 years old. Metaphorically, it is important to know that under the seemingly invulnerable and solid continentally sized masses is a boundary layer of slush and water, due to heat from the earth and compression. Occasionally, water can seep away, leaving voids and caves. This boundary layer acts as a lubricant, leading to instability and vulnerability of the whole: vast sections are at risk of sliding off into the sea, and any ice that does so will have a short life. Others of this series trace their intellectual roots to the huge crevasses that lurk under the surface of the seemingly solid ice, and that have claimed many lives both human and animal, and their gear, by falling through the thin snow roof that concealed their presence. Again, the thrust of the thinking relates to the tension between the apparent solidity, and actual precarious reality. There are certain parallels with our species, which flatters itself on its ‘dominance’. Despite such appearances, under the surface are characteristics that render our long term survival neither preordained, nor perhaps even desirable.” -Gabriel Warren

FRIZION: Burble’s Gradient by Dr. Peter J. Wasilewski. Photograph.

“How does a ‘Frizion’ evolve? Thin layers of water are frozen, manipulated, and viewed through polarized light. Light has wave-like properties, one of which is vibration. Ordinary white light vibrates in many directions, but a polarizing filter blocks all light except that which is vibrating in a single direction. A polarizing filter is placed on a light table to polarize the light passing through. A petri dish with a thin layer of water in the process of freezing is placed over the filter. As the polarized light passes through the forming ice crystals, it is bent in two slightly different directions and forms two different rays of light. The color palette in the images is created by rotating a second polarizing filter placed over the ice to intercept and resolve these emerging light rays.”